Listen
by Snow Illusion
Summary: Luna shows Harry a different approach to learning. A completely pointless fluff piece. [LunaHarry. One Shot.]


Listen

Written by: Snow Illusion

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Summary: Luna shows Harry a different approach to learning.

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Harry Potter was frustrated.

Damn, was he frustrated.

He clasped his hands around his ears, attempting to block out any source of sound. His eyes, watered and blurred behind his thick rimmed glasses, were focused tightly on one lightly yellowed page, a page which had been open for the last fifteen minutes. It didn't matter how many times he had read that goddamn paragraph, it was not sinking in.

It didn't make matters any better than Ron and Hermione had started arguing when they made eye contact with each other across the table.

"Why are you staring at me?" Hermione asked, drumming her pencil rapidly.

"I wasn't staring," Ron quickly covered up, a violent blush staining his cheeks. He ruffled his own papers and they fell to the floor.

"Yes you were, I caught you," Hermione pushed on, her brown eyes squared and hungry for a confession.

"You were staring, too!" Ron shot back, finally gaining back some of his momentum. Hermione squealed in disgust and huffed, sticking her chest out like some sort of offended quail preparing for battle.

"Why would I be staring when I'm doing my homework, unlike you Ron!" Hermione had gotten to her feet.

"Oh, come off it Hermione! Just because I have a social life doesn't mean I don't do my homework!" He had thrown his chair to the ground where it made a horrifying thump. The rest of the common room's attention had finally worked it's way to the fighting pair. Harry Potter sighed as he packed up his books and made his way down the library, his fifth trip that week. When the two got like that, he couldn't be around them, it would only be mere minutes before they were each pulling at him to be on their side, as if he was a ragdoll they could stretch and stretch and his seams would never rip. Well, he was starting to fray. He knew they would work it out...eventually. They always did.

And now, he had been in the library for an hour, and no further on his homework then he had been when Hermione and Ron had began taking stabs at each other with their words. Even in the quiet environment, he found he couldn't concentrate worth a damn.

"Hello."

A soft voice broke his trail of thoughts and Harry was surprised he could hear it even though his hands were still tightly clamped over his ears. He perked up and let his hands drop.

"Hello?" he asked with slow trepidation, his eyes unable to find any person through the shady darkness.

"Hi," the voice repeated again and Harry leaned forward. Yep, this is exactly what would make his day better, he thought sarcastically. Luna Lovegood. She was peeking from behind a tall bookshelf, her dishwater blonde hair hanging limply from her shoulders and down her front, her knobbly wand seemingly glued to the back of her ear, her clanging bottlecap necklace swishing at her neck. Her round and almost always distant cerulean eyes found their way to his book.

"Do you need help?" she asked, pushing her hair back over her shoulder, revealing a pair of radish earrings. Harry resisted the urge to laugh and quickly turned his attention back to his homework.

"Erm..." he dangled, not sure what to say. Luna Lovegood was a walking distraction, and he was having enough trouble as it was. His jumpy fingers fiddled through his bag as if he was looking for something, a schedule, another piece of homework, anything, so that maybe Luna would figure he was just too wrapped up in what he was doing and just continue doing whatever...she was doing.

She didn't wait for a response and plopped down directly across from him. Harry sighed and pushed a hand through his unruly midnight hair. No way would anything be accomplished now.

"What are you working on?"

She didn't wait for a response again and turned the book towards her. Harry's mouth was left hanging open with an answer but he clicked it shut.

After a moment or two, Luna nodded and returned the book. Harry's eyes widened and waited. And waited. Luna blinked.

"Well!" he demanded a little harshly. He bit his lower lip, he didn't mean to sound so rude, but he was already on the edge from Ron and Hermione's fight, and Luna had cordially invited herself to his homework session.

"Well what?" she asked, cocking her head to one side, reminding Harry forcibly of a puppy. He fought against a smile again and found only more frustration.

"The book - homework - do you know - " he stumbled, feeling heat climb up the back of his neck. He couldn't believe he was asking Luna Lovegood for help! He really had hit the bottom. Not only was she a year younger than himself, he couldn't really imagine her being a model student.

"Mhmm!" she responded and her eyes sparkled with something Harry had found he never seen in her - excitement, instead of an omniprescent superiority. He knitted his eyebrows together, but only silence followed her statement. He felt like pounding his forehead on the table. He clenched his fists and forced himself to sound polite. "Well...what was it?" he asked through gritted teeth, beaded sweat beginning to cultivate on his forehead.

"Well, first of all, in order to do that homework - " she started, pointing at the worksheet Harry was desperately trying to complete, " - you can't read the book."

Harry's heart froze and plummeted through his feet. "What do you mean?" he trembled. Was all this hard work for naught? Had he really read through seventy pages not to have needed to? Was the reading not required? Had he missed something? He ripped through his notebook, trying to find the exact notes he had written stating he had to read these pages. He found them on his second page and thrusted it at Luna. "Yes, yes we do!" he said confidently, tapping the page numbers furiously with his left index finger. "Read the book, do the assignment," he explained, although he was trying to convince himself more than her.

She was shaking her head through the whole speech and Harry fluttered the pages under her nose. "Yes!" he said again. Now he was just growing plain angry. She still didn't take the pages and Harry threw them out of instinct. They whooshed through the air and gently floated onto the library carpet. Luna watched with a slight amused look. Harry was now trying to get his breathing under control. What was it about Luna that got his knickers in such a twist?

She was still smiling serently and Harry finally had to give in. Luna knew that she had won but didn't make too much of a scene. Instead she grabbed his worksheet and gave it a quick glance.

"These are very personal spells," she said suddenly in a more methodical voice, as if she was truly dissecting the project. Harry straightened up, he had never heard Luna use that tone before. Perhaps she really was meant to be in Ravenclaw. She reached into her vest and Harry was surprised to find reading glasses. She perched them on the edge of her nose as she continued to analyze Harry's work. Harry gaped. She looked like a real person!

She babbled to herself in incoherent speech after that and Harry rolled his eyes. She may have looked normal, but she was still Loony Lovegood.

"There was once a great witch known as Evelyn Newtcort," Luna said, gracefully handing Harry his paper back. She pocketed her glasses and turned her orbish eyes towards Harry's green ones. "And her theory is that when dealing with those kind of spells, you can't read about it. You have to experience it. You have to feel it."

Harry was lost and dumbfounded. He blinked rapidly.

"Evelyn Newtcort also said that the answer to these spells lies within here," Luna continued, tapping her chest lightly where her heart was. "That every beat, every pulse is another key to unlocking the truth. It's a message. Our heart is trying to communicate to us."

Harry pushed the palm of his hands against his glasses. This was just too much. His brain was in overload. It was official, he was going to abandon his homework, tumble into bed, and then perhaps pick it up tomorrow and ask Hermione about the answers. He had had it with this listening to heart bullshit.

Now, Luna was not the kind of person who would be desperate for someone to see her point of view. It just wasn't her mantra, it would take too much time and effort to force everyone, or any one person, to think the way she did. And besides, it didn't matter to her, she knew what she believed in and she had faith in her beliefs. But she saw that Harry was in deep peril over this very simple and easy assignment, and she wasnted to help him thoroughly, and she would do so because he was her friend.

She reached out and placed her palm against the front of his robes. He jumped as if he had been electrocuted. "Luna!" he hissed, obviously not welcoming the contact. "What are you doing!"

She shook her head and motionied for him to sit down. "I'm not going to do any wierd voodoo on you, I promise," she said, and ended with a sugary giggle. Harry felt at peace for a moment, and then sat back down again with much hesitation. Her hand returned to it's previous spot and Harry was suddenly very, very aware of everyone that was in the library. What if they looked over and saw Luna's hand on his chest? What if they thought they were together? What if? These thoughts and more plauged his mind his mind and his heart began to race. Luna smiled.

"You're nervous," she said softly and she added more pressure to her hand. Somewhere, deep in Harry's mind, behind his anxiety and the frustration and just the plain damn anger, he was aware that there was a girl - sure, maybe not a very pretty girl, but a girl nonetheless - was touching him. And it felt good. He finally relaxed against her touch. Luna gave herself another victory.

"Now..." she started again, squinting her eyes, leaning forward as if...as if she was actually listening. "Yes...it's all right here, the answer to your problems." Harry's eyes widened and wondered if she would be correct. He took another look at his questions and awaited Luna's predictions. There was another moment of silence before Luna spoke again. "The wand-bearer's emotion's must be in direct proportion to the spacing between the words of the incantation, or else the spell is split into different spells, each affected differently by the amount of the emotion the wand-bearer is currently feeling."

Harry's jaw dropped.

"How did you...?" he asked as her hand dropped. He realized he felt cold without it, but he brushed the feeling off. "How did you do that?" he inquired again.

Luna shrugged. "You knew it all along, you just didn't know. Your heart did. According to Evelyn Newtcort, each wizard is born with the knowledge of all wizards, we're all connected. You just have to listen."

Her interpretation of his "heart's message" answered every single question pertaining to his homework.

She smiled. "Your turn."

His pencil clattered to the table. "Excuse me?" he choked, the hot sweaty feeling returning to the back of his neck.

"Your turn," she repeated, sticking out her chest much like Hermione had done hours before. She picked off strands of her hair that had stuck to her vest and flicked them away. Harry didn't respond.

"Listen, Harry. Listen to my heart. What does it say?"

And slowly, very slowly, Harry saw his arm extending, and he was yelling at himself, screaming for himself to stop, this was insane and ridiculous, this heart message bullshit meant nothing, Luna was just kidding herself. But when his hand finally found it's way over Luna's heart, his mind was wiped blank. And all there was was the beating of her heart, pulsing through his fingers and into his bloodstream, mingling with his own. He paused, letting his hand linger.

"Well?" Luna broke through, looking down at his hand. "What do you hear?"

Harry shook himself out of his stupor and forced himself to concentrate. He felt...something. He heard something. What was it? What was her heart trying to say?

"You..." he struggled, his muscles tensing. Luna's hands rested over his one.

"Relax," she whispered and Harry gulped. "You'll never get anything if you are not open to it." Her hands stayed where they were and Harry not only felt her heart, he felt the coolness of her palms, the comfort of her fingers. And it felt right.

He gave himself a few relaxing breaths. Her fingers curled over the back of his hand and pushed it gently. He was now somewhere he had never been before, stuck between the present and the future, behind the structures of time and space, he was playing hide and seek with relativity. He was completely in tune with himself but at the same time, he could feel the presence of every one else in the room. And suddenly, it wasn't only Luna's heart he was feeling, he was feeling everyone's heart! Maybe everyone in the whole wide world!

His eyes snapped open and Luna nodded.

"Did you listen?" she asked softly.

He nodded.

"And what did you hear?" Her voice was a string of starlight, slowly cascading through the room. He had tapped into some unknown resource of information, something every wizard shouldn't and couldn't do. He was a nutjob, just like Luna Lovegood.

She released his hand because it was no longer placed on her heart. It was trailing along her collarbone, up her neck, and finally rested on her cheekbone where it cupped the soft flesh. She sighed and melted under his touch.

"I heard this," he mumbled before leaning over and placing a delicate kiss on her soft lips.

When they were finished, Luna and Harry were both left smiling.

This would not be last library trip for either of them.


End file.
